catcouk

Well, I think you've all done a terrific job. It's the single piece windscreen that stands out for me. Just a fantastic piece of design (and I'm a sucker for a two tone colour scheme...)!

Been to Coltishall twice (Evesham Light and Spring Horizon), took a sliding canopy to Geldeston (Antigua), and we tried to spend the night at Dilhan last year but it was full (Spring Horizon). I totally agree that they are stunning sections of river. We didn't see another cruiser on the Geldeston stretch and , last year, had the Coltishall mornings to ourselves. Next year, I am hoping to get a boat that claims to be able to get under Wroxham...

I have the clips ready for a boat review of Melody and a holiday video of our tour. Back to work tomorrow so it will be a bit before I can edit and upload. Thanks for asking though (and sorry in advance for the video...).

Wish I'd seen this before we went. Explains why the tides were about an hour out this year. Woops.

I'd happily use it during our visits but I can never get moored up on Horning!

To finish, I just want to say thank you to all the forum members that have interacted with my holiday blog. I really write it up for me to look back over and remind me of our holiday but it has been lovely having so many friendly and helpful interactions. I look forward to seeing you all next year.

And the photos...

(Full disclosure: I fell asleep when I got home…) Firstly, sorry for the delay to the conclusion of my holiday blog. Worse still, the last post ended on a cliffhanger – would we survive our first night of overnight mudweighting? I’m sure many of you will guess the reason for this delay – was it because we sank overnight? No. Well, before I get to that, let me quickly talk about the late evening after I last posted. After our son was eventually asleep, the wife and I spent a long time in the aft well. The design of this boat is just excellent. Whilst you can’t visit the upper reaches of the Bure or Waveney (or get past St. Olaves apparently… not that I’m still irritated), the space, the layout, and the aft well are all just great. Naturally, being on a mudweight, we were head to wind (albeit a very gentle breeze) meaning the aft well was completely sheltered. I even stood under it at Norwich when there was a shower as the canopy is quite sizeable too. Just such a great place to be in the evening! We sat there, enjoying the peacefulness of the night air and the stars in the sky. I wouldn’t say it was a particularly great location for it but, using my binoculars (why have we never thought of doing that before?), we could see so much. We could even make out some craters on the tiny sliver of moon out. The peace was really only broken by a group of people chatting loudly at the far end of the Broad – it reminded both of us of camping with our cadet group. Funnily enough, just a few moments later, a much louder voice was heard telling the ‘sea cadets’ to be quiet and respect the other boaters. Thought the din sounded familiar… I awoke quite abruptly at about 6.30 to the noise of something hitting against the hull. But that can’t be possible when you are floating in the middle of a Broad? I sat bolt upright and looked out of our tiny cabin window, fearing the worst. Everything seemed okay except it was clearly quite a bit windier. I assume the bang (and subsequent few bangs) were fenders blowing in a gust of wind. I settled back for a snooze. At 8, I started to get up. Got dressed, used the loo, and as I headed up from the cabins, Mrs Catcouk said, “that boat looks closer to us this morning. I noticed it an hour ago.” I need to discuss the importance of watching our position ‘at achor’… Sure enough, Swan Rapide, which had been quite a respectful distant astern was now only two boat lengths away. I kept an eye on some transit lines abeam and, sure enough, we had slipped a few boat lengths. Over the next 15 minutes I kept a keen eye on it and eventually decided it was time to go (spoiling our lazy lie ins). As best I can tell, we were pretty secure for most of the night but the morning gusts had worked us free. I reckon we slipped a boat length in about 20 minutes and we certainly couldn’t have travelled at the that speed all night! It far from ruined the experience though. The evening was just awesome and I strongly suspect that it will be on our list of ‘must dos’ next year. By 8.30, we were steaming down the Yare with two other boats. After a sleepy chug through a very quiet Horning, we arrived at Cockshoot Dyke. The Dyke was full when we arrived but a cruiser was just about to leave (I’m really glad we didn’t head up here as a backup last night!). The dyke was full because a fleet of sailors out of Martham with an accompanying Jayne were in situ. As I understand it, there are two youth groups out that normally share some of Hunters and Marthams yachts between them (my colleague being part of one of the groups – the suspected group that had a capsizing earlier in the week). This year, the two different groups had agreed to change this up to have each group hiring from just one yard in case they couldn’t get under Potter Heigham – having your group split in two by a medieval bridge would be an inconvenience… Whilst they got themselves ready for their day of sailing, we enjoyed a late and relaxed breakfast. After an hour or so, we intended to explore the Cockshoot Dyke boardwalk which we had done about 5 years ago. Those of you in the know will realise a flaw to the plan. Just as we were about to head off, both the wife an I noticed a sign across the entrance. We knew what it would say but chose to stroll up there anyway – reserve closed due to recent bad weather and storm damage. I vaguely recall seeing Cockshoot Dyke had had to close a few years ago; is this still that same closure or has the boardwalk sustained damage again? This disappointment aside, we set off earlier than planned. To complete our ‘grand tour’ of the Broads, there were a few places we had cruised past and needed to go back to. We started with a gentle cruise around both of South Walsham’s Broads. Whilst we didn’t spot any nature of particular interest, we did receive two guests. A pair of mallards decided to hitch a ride on our roof. Naturally, we were only too pleased of the company and broke out the duck food. The female duck was so tame that my wife was actually able to touch her! On our way back out of Fleet Dyke, the sailing group we had left at Cockshoot Dyke appeared. One yacht had just moored up on the dyke moorings but I could see a trail of masts entering the top of the dyke. Sure enough, an interesting passage ensued. All three of the remaining yacht fleet were tacking up the really narrow channel as two cruisers were entering behind. With such little space and oncoming cruisers, I’ll be honest and say I’m not entirely sure what the rules of the road expected from me. Obviously, give way to the sails but who would attempt a pass first. In the end, the decision was made for me. The first oncoming cruiser, no doubt deciding they didn’t want the hassle, turned around and went back onto the Bure. I was then gifted an easy pass as all three yachts ended up tacking on the same side and we too were free on the Bure! After this, we headed up the Thurne and were treated to a passing wherry who was just raising her big black sail. What an awesome sight! With our slightly accelerated schedule, we were too early to mudweight at South Walsham (the outer Broad) for lunch so decided to explore Womack Dyke instead. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a short stay free mooring there as we probably would have stopped in the BIG shop and got ice cream but £5 seemed a bit much just for an entry fee. They look like good moorings though. An excellent mooring was found hidden behind ‘Womack island’ but, sadly, they are currently closed for maintenance (seriously though, that mooring looks like an amazing hideaway!). After lunch on the Womack Dyke moorings (and my goodness, the water levels were high – it was one heck of a step on and off the boat), we headed to the BA moorings at Potter Heigham. I saw an actual boat go under the bridge!! It was only a little dayboat out of Phoenix Fleet but it still counts! The bridge gauge was showing 5ft. Having seen the Jayne out of Martham earlier, I couldn’t help but wonder how on earth they still manage to get that big beautiful craft though. Also, having had the time to admire her up close earlier, I can honestly say that I am impressed at just how well presented that boat is. Clearly, Martham are magicians – there’s no other explanation. Beautiful wooden hirecraft that look like new and are also able to fit through unfeasibly low bridges – it can only be some form of magic. Whilst doing the obligatory walk around Lathams, I bumped into our friends from the afternoon in Beccles. They had come up to moor here earlier but found no space. Instead, they had headed back to Richardsons early and come here by car instead. I was surprised because I think when we arrived at 2.30, we were only one of three on the moorings. In keeping with the familiar faces, when we got back to the boat, Jayne had moored in front of us and were preparing to receive their fleet. Again, we would have to pass them… But it was easy this time – none were tacking and all were keeping easily to their side of the river. Sometimes, passing yachts is really easy! Again, we passed the wherry, this time lowering her sail as she approached Womack Dyke. With time pressing on, the only thing left on today’s agenda was to get near enough to Stalham. My thanks to some boaters moored at Ludham who spotted one of our bow lines trailing in the river. When I had planned the route, it looked as though we would reach How Hill by about 6 which is the latest I really like to be without a mooring (and this was broadly accurate). However, I realised that we haven’t been down the dyke to Neatished and Mrs Catcouk is desperate to see a kingfisher (and we have spied them there before). Well, this has ended being a holiday of risks, so we pressed on. I knew Irstead would be without space but there would be a slim chance of finding something at Gays Staithe. I am really glad we did as the cruise over Barton in the evening was just amazing and got even more picturesque as we headed down the channel toward the sun. With light on our side, I decided we would head down to Neatished to hunt for a kingfisher – I knew there was no chance of finding a mooring there (how true this was) but it meant I could observe Gays on the way past. Unfortunately, another cruiser was just leaving Limekiln Dyke as we arrived so I had to focus on that rather than spotting a mooring space (and, worryingly, it looked pretty busy). Well, our kingfisher hunt was fruitless but our mooring hunt wasn’t. Coming slowly back out of the dyke, I had a good scan of Gays Staithe. All the side on moorings were taken and the stern on side looked full as well but… Through the binoculars, there might have been space next to Swan Rapide (are we following them?) but there were certainly many free mooring posts down the far end of the impossibly narrow channel. Having earnt my tight space manoeuvring badge in Brinks’ marina yesterday, I thought we should give it a go. I actually brought the boat astern down the entire length of the stern on moorings believing this would give us the best position to moor. And it worked – much to the surprise of several onlookers. A couple were out walking their dog and very kindly took our lines and helped us tie up. We were once again gifted with a beautiful mooring spot. Despite the extremely high number of craft moored around this very tiny spit of land, it is lovely. Surrounded by woodland, it just felt rather magical. I also discovered that there are toilets here too – about a 5 minute walk away is a Broads Authority car park for the Barton Boardwalk. I always love finding somewhere with shore facilities that means we can avoid filling the septic tank. Maybe these toilets aren’t considered attached to the moorings but they must be at least as close as the ones at Ludham Bridge. Very clean too. The downside (or plus side, depending on how you look at it) is there is absolutely no signal for me at Gays Staithe. This last entry had to be posted after the fact and I thought I would include our sad return to the boatyard. I worked out that we could afford another kingfisher hunt down to Neatished and back if we left by 7.30. So, at precisely 7.42 (sigh) we searched again for an elusive kingfisher. Still no joy. A little deflated, we headed out across Barton Broad and joined the rest of the returning fleet to Richardsons (something slightly funny about seeing so many boats all heading back for the same thing). After that, we followed the Ant out of Barton Broad (which we hadn’t used on the way here) and there was just one last water way to tick off. Instead of turning left for Stalham, our last half an hour was a gentle chug down to Sutton. Apparently, Sutton Broad is Goose City – there were so many of them lurking around. Lovely, peaceful chug over the broad though. I was a bit worried we wouldn’t make our 9am handover time but, as we turned back up toward Stalham, there were several other fleet boats chancing their luck. Of course, it is always sad returning to the yard but I am always mildly terrified. After a long stretch of boating, you would think that the last stern mooring of the holiday would be easy but I always seem to make a mess of it. Today was a real challenge as we were later in too: there was a space for one boat so high precision was required. Remarkably, it was a doddle. Even the staff member on the quay remarked that I had made it look easy (which I take as high praise). Furthermore, Mrs Catcouk remarked that I must be especially pleased with myself as we had the ropes on at exactly 9 – full use of the boat hire time achieved! The guy from the yard mentioned that it was a busy morning – he overheard me commenting on the vista of fleet returning over Barton Broad to our neighbour. He said, jokingly, that he didn’t want to see us back as they were receiving 45 boats this morning (and 17 heading out later). I offered to extend our holiday… The staff are always lovely. I also had a look around (with permission) of a cruiser we’re considering for next year. The chap on that quay joked we take the boat if the keys were in it – tempting… That more-or-less completes our epic odyssey of the Broads. We have managed to visit the far ends of all the waterways you can in a 7’08 boat in the space of just one week. On top of that, we have several things on our to do list for next year too! All that remains for this year is… the fuel bill! As already reported, we have covered 169 river miles. 139 litres of diesel burned at a cost of £195.57. Actually, the cost of £1.40/ltr seemed quite reasonable compared with the first road garage I saw and very reasonable compared to the pirates at the Waveney River Centre (over £1.80 – who are they kidding?!?!?). Another great family holiday completed. Now to go home and make a start on the washing…

The last installment to my blog has been delayed. Last night's mooring had no signal so I will post once we get home this evening. For now, I'll leave you with the total river mileage for the boat's GPS...

I saw Horning Pleasure craft's new cruiser on the water today. I remember thinking that the Richardson's rX45 designs had brought the old ideas up-to-date but Fleetline looks like a space ship by comparison. I love the two tone hull and superstructure - very classy! A single piece of glass for the electrically operated windscreen is very novel too. Having looked at the internal photos on their website, the interior looks less clinical than a lot of other newer boats (my complaint about most newer designs). I think the upturned forward side windows look a bit aggressive and reduce the light available on the forward cabin but other than that... I absolutely tip my hat to the team at Horning - that is one handsome craft!

No, they aren't the lights across the bay at Monaco (although it is so mild and lovely sat outside that it almost feels as though they could be). A closing shot across to the moorings at Salhouse Broad!

Photos (hopefully).

We stayed on the BA moorings at Wayford Bridge for our last night last year. It wasn't my first choice but was surprisingly lovely. Does the Wayford Bridge Hotel and Restaurant serve drinks?

It was a bumpy ol’ night at Yarmouth YS (facilitated by the necessary loose mooring lines). We woke up to an overcast and grey morning which seemed to match the surroundings. The staff there were very friendly but, honestly, if we wanted to visit again, I’d probably advocate mooring at Reedham or somewhere else close to a railway station and just take the train! It was fascinating watching the speed that the bridge gauge climbed with the tide though. Every time I looked at it (as we were moored opposite) I swear another three inch marker disappeared. Probably a whole foot in less than 45 minutes! We set off at a leisurely 8.20, heading up the Bure with Wroxham being the target. As we left the Great Yarmouth 5mph speed limit, the weather seemed to be tuned to the natural beauty of the emerging surroundings. By the time we were at Scare Gap, it was so hot and sunny, I almost put shorts on! Almost… It feels like it has been a holiday of spotting things from a distance. To be fair, the last time I was this far down the Bure, it was pretty foggy. I was amazed (again) to spot Cantley peeping at me over the horizon from just below Scare Gap. In my mind, the North and South are totally separate worlds – seeing a landmark from the South was quite jarring! The chug up to Acle was unremarkable (except that, again, we could have moored at Stokesby but a new Lego model was captivating the boy this morning so the park didn’t stand a chance). Up to this point, I had practically forgotten that we have to share the rivers with anyone else. Over the past few days it had become the norm to pass only a handful of other boats on the Southern rivers (and the occasional kraken, of course!). But this little world view came crashing down as we passed Acle bridge. We entered the moorings alone but had a flotilla of four following us as we left. It makes sense why so many people would stay above Acle as there really aren’t any tides to consider but the change was so drastic! Whilst we skipped past Upton Dyke (I’m considering small dykes like that ticked off just be passing them) but chose to go onto Malthouse Broad. I was pleased that no one else followed us so it almost felt like we were on our own again. The moorings were pretty much full on the staithe (has anything come from anyone arguing the mooring fees there?). We had a quick look around but moved on. I always love cruising through Horning and have since I was a child. It feels like a village was built on the river and they have all chosen to use the river and boats instead of cars. Some places even have a small dyke and boathouse where the rest of the world might have a driveway and garage. I know they all have road access on the other side but I prefer the fantasy version I have in my head! My son was impressed by the sight of the Southern Comfort paddle ‘steamer’. The magic of seeing that boat was lost for me when I realised the paddles barely touch the water so I assume they are for show? After that though, I was in for a right shock – there was an actual free mooring space on the BA’s Horning moorings!!! I have never seen this rare sight and even took a photo for posterity! (Full disclosure: I saw the boat leave the mooring and I think our friends from the evening at Beccles were turning around to take the space so it was empty for a matter of minutes.) We chugged on enjoying some sandwiches as we approached Salhouse Broad. I was pretty sure we would need to stop when we got to the spit and, sure enough, there it was. The fabled ice cream boat! It really is a tourist trap novelty but they do serve good ice cream! In keeping with the ‘grand tour’ agenda, I kept to the Bure past Wroxham Broad (not sure I’ve done that before) and we passed one of NBD’s ‘paddle steamers’ at the upper entrance to the Broad (are those paddles actually functional?). I was surprised to see a sign informing me that there was a £5 charge for mud weighting overnight on Wroxham Broad. Firstly, how is that possible – can you own a body of water? Secondly, how do they enforce that? Just like with Horning, we chugged past the mythical river villages on the banks of Hoveton and Wroxham and followed the river up to the bridge. Given our air draft, we were never going to pass the bridge so I intended to moor at NBD. Not a chance – the place was packed full. I’d already passed a pretty full looking Brinks so started checking my captain’s manual for the location of Summercraft. However, I spotted a tight stern mooring place in Brinks’ marina. I have never performed such a tight stern mooring (it almost doesn’t look possible given how close the boats are) but, with a very slight fend off from a Rexmore, we gently moored up in the exactly form fitting space. I genuinely surprised myself! As my son and I both love trains, we went and had a look around Wroxham Miniature Worlds. I swear that place was formed just because a load of blokes were told to take their toys out of the house by their wives! Naturally, my son absolutely loved it and almost squealed with excitement each time he moved his stall and ran to the next thing to look at. The ‘Lego room’ is quite something to behold – Mrs Catcouk commented on the sheer value that must be within that room. After a drink in McDonalds and a food top up at Roys, we were back at the boat by about 4.30. The boy and I had a wonder around the marina looking at all the lovely hire boats we couldn’t afford. When we got back, the wife commented that we really should be doing something with the sunshine and that this boatyard was a bit depressing. Looking at the time, we talked through a few options and decided to head (as already reported) for Salhouse Broad. Leaving the mooring (which was now completely full) was an even bigger challenged than the mooring. Honestly, I don't know how the bigger craft leave there (although, thinking about it, they all have bow thrusters, don't they?). Anyway, my wife said that her observation had made it look effortless - thanks, Love! Of course, this time, we cruised through Wroxham Broad so, once again, the boy was given the helm. Whilst the wife supervised, I decided to go ‘tank commander’ and pop my head up through the sunroof. Melody has these awesome bench seats that allow crew to look out the front with the same view as the helm – why don’t more boats have this? – but also provided a great standing point to get an elevated view. The sun and the gentle breeze were amazing! As we entered Salhouse, we were treated to a flock of geese with some goslings (very cute indeed). We had to spin the boat round a few times to afford my wife the opportunity to get some good photos. As expected, the stern moorings of the broad were very busy and I began to consider our alternative of Cockshoot Broad (but that was a risk being an hour away). I did spot a tight spot we could have used but realised this was only marginally better than the boatyard but that we would have to pay £12 for the privilege. That was when the mad idea struck me. There were already three other cruisers on mud weights that looked pretty settled for the night. The weather is calm and lovely. So I suggested our first ever overnight mud weight. Now, I see this as a similar exercise to laying at anchor. We’ve done this a few times over lunch but I have always been nervous to do it overnight. I have anchored as part of a yacht crew on the Solent overnight but we had to take it in turns to sit watch to make sure we didn’t go anywhere! But, with others doing the same, I decided we’d give it a go. And… So far, we are loving it! We actually had dinner on the foredeck in the setting sun. Using the emergency escape hatch from the forward cabin as a serving hatch, all three of us sat there, bobbing around in almost perfect peace. The wife commented that this felt so special that it could almost be our last night and I know what she meant. Being worried about the mud weight, I picked a couple of ‘transit’ points I’d could keep an eye on and, nearly three hours after arriving, we really haven’t moved (aside from a bit of swinging around due to wind direction changes). I don’t know how soundly I will sleep tonight with the slight niggle in the back of my mind that we are relying on the mud weight and no one is keeping watch. However, this is proving to be an amazing new experience and certainly a massive upgrade on the Yarmouth Yacht Station… [Signal here is terrible but will attempt to upload photos in a bit]

Change of plan. Wroxham was fit to burst tonight with both NBD and Brinks full of their own craft. We managed to squeeze into a ridiculously tight spot in Brinks' marina so we could visit Roy's and Wroxham Miniature Worlds. However, hearing it was turn around day and being stuck in a yard felt a bit naff. So... For the first time ever, we are attempting an overnight mud weight on Salhouse Broad! The signal isn't great here but I'll try to post later. Here's hoping we don't slip and end up in a hedge!

Between Polkeys Mill and Berney Arms.

I think I'd love it too. Sadly, the costs spiral up after the Easter holidays.

Sadly, I agree. It's been reported elsewhere that all are okay but I hope to confirm exactly that!

LOVE this. Fascinating to look at the data over time as well. Ludham Bridge would be very useful (and, given my day, St. Olaves too).

Oh crikey! That does sound like my colleague's group! I'll have too see what I can get out of him when I see him on Monday. Maybe it was a different Christian group that has an annual boating trip?

Does anyone have a photo of a "coaster" on the river. My parents always spoke about them with some trepidation but I never saw one myself. I've always wondered how big they were.

Not quite as picturesque as Norwich but still has it's charms...

We treated ourselves to a lie in this morning and didn’t leave Beccles until a sedate 8am! Once again, we had the absolute treat of amazing sunshine glistening over the Waveney. I really love this river when the sun comes out. It was a special treat that we more or less had to ourselves. Between Beccles and St. Olaves, we only saw four other boats moving. To continue our goal of cruising all the waterways, we naturally diverted down Oulton Dyke to Oulton Broad. I haven’t been here since I was a child and have no memories of it but was really surprised by how narrow it is. I know it is a popular powerboat racing spot and there must be some tight turns in places! Some very expensive and interesting waterfront properties here too – definitely a place to play ‘I wonder what job you have to do to earn that?’ It was here that my son was given the freedom to indulge himself on the helm (pretty much for the first time since we crossed Barton Broad on Saturday). Onlookers either thought we were mad or worked out that a child was in charge – we weaved and span all over the place. In fairness, I think this does more to give him a true feel for the helm than my instructions on the rivers – he has plenty of space to experiment and see what happens. The sun continued to shine down as we continued back down the Waveney. I noticed chimneys in the distance just after we left Oulton Dyke but couldn’t work out what they were. Scanning the horizon with my binoculars, I realized they were part of the works at Cantley (later worked out to be 15km distant using my OS map). I know Norfolk is flat but that is still some distance to see over! As we approached Somerleyton, my thoughts turned to the swing bridge: the tide was well on the way up by now so I wondered whether we would see the bridge open for us. As it turned out, about 7’10 showed on the board and I reckon that is pretty accurate. It felt like there was only inches to spare above us! It was at this point, I realised a grave error that I had made when replanning our route last week. Originally, we planned to go to Beccles before Norwich but changed this so that we could meet up with family. I had checked the running times and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. But, as I am less familiar with the South (especially the Waveney), I had neglected to check the tide state (and thus bridge height) for St. Olaves. As we passed Herringfleet, I did the maths and knew the inevitable conclusion. We approached St. Olaves (with high river levels and the tide still rising) to see only 7ft of clearance (we need 7’08). It would be four if not five hours before we could even attempt a passage and we wanted to play crazy golf on Yarmouth seafront. We turned around and made our way back along the Haddiscoe Cut (which was considerably easier than with yesterday’s crosswind). ‘So what?’ I hear you muse. It’s really only a 40 minute or so detour and would have the added advantage of giving more time after hide tide to get under Yarmouth Vauxhall bridge. Well, this miscalculation has ended my agenda of covering all of the Broads’ waterways below low bridges within the week. We have had to miss the lower Waveney past Burgh Castle. Darn. It’s not like there’s a medal or anything but I thought it would have been a cool thing to achieve (and one that I didn’t think was entirely possible). We arrived at Berney Arms about 1pm with the intention of a stop for lunch whilst I called the Yarmouth Yacht Station for the bridge height. As it happened, Spirit of Breydon (the ranger launch) had just moored up and even tied up our mooring lines for us (lovely guys). They told me they patrol the entrance to Breydon whenever the clearance below Yarmouth Vauxhall drops below 7’02. We also had a chat about their patrol area (around the ‘island’ as he called it and up the lower Bure, home moorings at Burgh Castle if you are interested) and I was amused by the ranger’s disdain for Spirit of Breydon’s poor handling characteristics compared with the twin screw lifeboats he had helmed in the past (they also have an air draft of 9ft for anyone that’s interested too). This chat aside, they said they were going to mow the grass whilst they were here but would let us know when we had enough clearance which was lovely of them. They have a direct link to a digital gauge at the bridge (which made me wonder why the public can’t access this information in the age of the Internet – maybe we can and I just don’t know) and said the levels had risen very quickly and expected them to fall just as soon. Sure enough, within about 40 minutes (a perfect lunch break), the ranger told me there was 7’10 clearance. I don’t know how often the gauge updates because it hadn’t long been 7’02 on their gauge? Another point of interest is the height gauge at Berney gave the clearance as just 7ft (10 inches less than the ranger’s digital gauge report) – I guess this makes sense if you were considering a crossing on a rising tide and the length of a crossing could well provide that difference if not more. It was a much speedier crossing than the battle against the wind a few days ago. Instead of struggling to attain 3.5mph, we had both the wind and tide with us giving us almost 10mph at one point (GPS indicated speed over ground)! I’m not sure I’ve ever travelled so fast on a Broads cruiser! Needless to say, we were assisted to moor up at Yarmouth Yacht Station in the blink of an eye. It was an interesting turn up the Bure though with the speed of the water rushing through! We were quick to secure the boat so we could get down the seafront. Typically, the lovely weather ran away and hid behind clouds so that we even had the odd spot of rain during our round of crazy golf. My wife loves piers and 2p machines but I was gutted for her not getting the glorious weather to match the pleasant seafront. Having said that, the walk to the seafront was quite an experience. I can’t believe there wasn’t a single chain store between the bus station and the front (something I think should be admired). Also, it was clear that the town had invested in regenerating the main high street and the promenade but appears to have neglected the bit in the middle. We returned to the moorings with the traditional fish and chips for dinner (very good actually – we used the one nearest to the moorings just the other side of the underpass). My son was in for a shock – the boat had ‘sunk’. To be fair, I had forgotten just how drastic the tidal range here was. Arriving back at almost exactly low tide, the quayside was nearly above Melody’s canopy. As my mum said on WhatsApp – we needed a parachute to get back aboard! Certainly it was quite the trick getting my mobility scooter back on board. Well, that’s another day done. Just a few bits of housekeeping to finish the post. I neglected to mention heron on my list of birds seen the other day (we saw a new bird of prey with really bright red leading edges on it’s wings today). Broads01 had commented on our cruising distance; as we left Beccles this morning, the GPS odometer went over 88 (I wondered if we were about to travel through time…) and I think we are now at 115. Still annoyed not to have ticked off the lower Waveney though…

Some other photos from today.

A few observations from this morning's cruise. I didn't realise just how far you could see Cantley from. I first spotted it just above the Oulton Dyke (about 15km away) and managed to get this photo near Black Mill, south of Somerleyton (about 13km away). Serious question: Why does Somerleyton ask for donations towards the upkeep of the mooring? Isn't that what the river rolls are supposed to cover? The little column to the right is a donations request box. I'm guessing the levels are Berney Arms were REALLY high from the look of where the reeds got to! Lastly, the land on the Yare/Waveney island is very flat. Took this photo of Berney Arms mill from the Haddiscoe New Cut.